9 Apr 2012

There are various statistics floating around on the internet about Rafa Benitez's managerial career, but the full and complete stats have never been published on or offline before. Until now!

Whenever I've tried to research Benitez's career, I've often been frustrated by the lack of complete and accurate information available. In order to judge his career (and that of any other manager) fairly, complete statistics are necessary.

I have exhaustively compiled stats for Benitez's entire career, i.e. every single competitive game, from Valladolid in 1995, through Valencia; Liverpool in the Premier League, all the way up to the Spaniard's last job at Inter Milan. I obtained these figures from reputable sources both on and offline, including the clubs themselves (when I couldn't find the information I needed).

I draw no conclusions; I'm just providing the figures for information purposes.

I Draw no conclusions i just load the Gun and stand back Whatever Rafa did or didn't do as a manager means nothing to any Liverpool fan we have a manager in Kenny Dalglish and they are the only stats that matter if he brings home two cups then the rest doesnt matter and we move forward to next season and the second year of 4 y plan we have a lot of overpaid stars on our books that need shipping out and Dalglish has undertaken the job without much fuss we have some great lads comming through from below the first team and have money to bring in the tallent we need to put this club back on top i leave your Gun unused but these articals are divisive when the fans should be standing together

LA LIGA TWICE competing with Barca and Real M. UEFA CUP. EUROPEAN CUP,FACUP,WORLD CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP.I think he's won UEFA SUPER CUP as well. One word WINNER. Replacing him with RH has to b the worst decision in LFC history.

Well done on getting the stats, must have been a pain finding results for some of those teams! My personal opinion is Rafa was sacked too early. He had a poor final year but that wasn't fully in his hands. Aquilani's injury was a lot worse than first feared (I maintain we should not be loaning him out, should be in the first team) leaving the much maligned Lucas at the time with Mascherano in the middle (2 very defensive midfielders). Every club has a few years away from the top, Barca had it in the early 2000's, flirting with relegation in one season. As much as I love Rafa, I think we all need to move on and accept what we have. Personally I can't see Kenny lasting too much longer, but if we get a new man in, we should make it our job to embrace them and give them every opportunity, not treat them in the disgraceful manner we treated Hodgson.

Jaimie, I'll tell you a secret. You could have contacted Rafa, there are his contact details on his website, and requested those stats from him. I wrote him an e-mail once, a few months ago, I had a question to ask. He took his time to PERSONALLY reply to me. Of course, I can't be sure if it wasn't his secretary... but it 'sounded' like him.

Also, it's very nice of you to compell all these data and make these tables. But for the fans without much knowledge about the numbers, how are we supposed to understand whether these stats good, bad or average, comparing to other big name managers?

I've done quite a few comparative analyses of Benitez vs other big name managers in the past; this is just to compile his stats in one place. I think the tables are pretty self-explanatory, and people can form their own view of Benitez's competence without reference to the stats of other managers.

Self-explanatory? I don't know (genuinely don't know)Let's take, say, Rafa and Arry (our big-name English manager) is Redknapp's W-D-L ratio overall better? Let's take Dechamps. Van Gaal. You name it. How am I supposed to know where Rafa is comparing to them, and how should it be self-explanatory for me? Am I being suggested to naively expect the manager to have a 99% win ratio, or what?

Agreed. Lets move on. Forget Rafa. He had his chance. Why keep looking at the past. There may be someone out there who can get us a better win rate. For any ambitious club, his win rate is only average.

Don't think its fair to compare Rafa to Dechamps or other non EPL managers. They operate under different competitive levels. In La Liga, for example, to win the league title, you just need to make sure you win the few key ties against maybe the top 4 - 6 teams.

In the Epl, because it is a marathon league, even the lesser clubs can surprise the top team like what Norwich did to Spurs. So, it is very challenging for managers in terms of team selection and tactics.

In any case, it is what Kenny and any future manager does that matters and we should forget Rafa and move on with other managers.

Rafa is a genius.Conquered europe with different teams in different countries, won successive uefa european manager of the year awards with 2 teams from different countries.Rafa is favourite to be the next LFC and Real Madrid manager,I hope for our sake its LFC at the end of the season when John Henry will give him a long term project for him to make us the most feared team in europe again like last time he was here.Not like is happeneing now with us sinking fast,against Blackburn i know we will score at the most 1 goal which is just pitiful.

Well done again Jamie.... NOT! You as well as I know this isn't for 'informative content'! You know that lots of people DON'T see the bigger picture but just see what YOU WANT or DIRECT them to see (overall win %). As I commented last week on one of your articles...... You're obviously panicking by the thought of your HATED one having a return so again you're trying to muddy the water and get bad vibes circulating bout him (rafa). However YOU AND US wont decide if he comes back do your attempts won't make ANY difference!But to make it seem a little less negative..... He took us to our highest points tally in history on a shoestring budget finishing 2nd to man u, the reason he didn't win the league with inter and was sacked was because he was promised funds to reinforce an injury ravaged side left by jm....... But the funds never came! Yet he still won silverware with inter! So 3 clubs (Valencia, inter and Liverpool) have ALL failed to back him financially yet he's been a winner with all THREE! Teams like real Madrid don't try paving you if your crap! I just hope he gets the recall you so dread, gets proper money without having to wheel and deal...... And he will shut you up once and for all!If you wanna know anything more bout rafa I suggest you contact Paul tomkins!Oh and whoever said 'anyone that swaps Alonso for Barry can out his trade elsewhere'...... Alonso is a fantastic player but was crap in every year other than his first and last season! So when rafa has to wheel and deal he's obviously gonna try getting rid of a high costing player thats in actual fact NOT being consistent! Wake up!

Good post! Bet he doesn't come back with those stats! (because he knows that you're very right in what you're trying to say..... Which doesn't go along with his agenda of sullying rafa because he fears he might be called upon again to manage!)

he also had that arrogance that would never admit to being wrong, Voronin great buy Rafa lets gve him more starts than 11m Babel. he blew the league squaring up to Alex Ferguson, yet again drawing too many matches, not to mention trying to resign Heskey

"He blew the league squaring up to Alex Ferguson" - please justify? There seems to be this 'myth' that this is when Liverpool's season began to take a turn for the worse - something that the national media would have ignorant fans believe given their agenda. Liverpool actually accrued more points and scored more goals in the 2nd half of the season AFTER he "squared up to Alex Ferguson" than we did in the 1st half of the season - which was also AFTER we also shipped out Robbie Keane - which is something else fans often refer to when discussing our downfall that season. And just for good measure, Voronin was signed on a free! Think that gives you an indication of the limited resources and environment he was working within.

But why has he presented it! It would be good if he presented the same information for all ex LFC and other top club managers.With the funds that were made available to KD,he would have had LFC up closer to the top of the premiership!With,of course his superior skill/tactics etc;

Well said xabithelad! He sees what he wants to see! And Jamie is trying to stir bad feeling because he's petrified rafa may get a recall! I for one hope he does! And your spot on saying that voronin was good example of having NO MONEY to spend! After all..... Did rafa not want villa, alves to name but a few? We coulda had all those cheap before they became huge players for reasonable fee (IF HE HAD BEEN BACKED)...... Kenny has been backed and we got hendo, downing and Carroll. Imagine where we woulda been if rafa had that cash!

someone asked about Arry, copy/paste from wiki, not over 50%TeamFromToRecordGWDLWin %Bournemouth19 October 19839 June 199245718010717039.39West Ham United10 August 19949 May 20013271218512137.00Portsmouth25 March 200224 November 200411654263646.55Southampton8 December 20042 December 20054913211526.53Portsmouth7 December 200526 October 200812854294542.19Tottenham Hotspur26 October 2008Present19295494849.48

actually i backed Rafa for a long time till he started to prefer his own reputation rather than take risks and bring the necessary flair into the team that would break up those tight defences that we so often failed to break down i liked us being hard to beat and finishing mostly in the top four but defend the money all you want he made woeful decisions and it cost us the league and loads of points to boot, I will give you classic illogical Rafa, lets go to the Champs league final against Ac not the first one with the strange Didi Hamaan omission, but the second one when he said we do not need Robbie Fowler so he says goodbye at Anfield add to that he played a has been winger IN Zenden who was being released as he would not be good enough for the next season both decisions were terrible an he hauled Zenden off at 59 mins when we were screaming sub earlier, Rafa never signalled for a sub before 58 mins, its in his little tactic book even if we are losing lol, he was a robot and and wanted a robotic team, he never showed the warmth that might bring out the best in a player he was more in too disciplinary measures that a pat on the back, thats not the Liverpool Way.

Free transfer got more games that the much maligned Ryan Babel, who tweets aside could have been awesome for us, and we may have chalked up the points but lost the league with silly draws, four points that could have been got playing and not punishing players that were needed to do the job. excuses of resources could be one reason or the fact that even now our club fails to be shrewd in the market or use players in the correct position preferring to make Dirk Kuyt a winger instead of trying Babel on his correct foot yes the right side of midfield, i think if he actually more patient with Dirk up front more goals would have come from him too. Rafa is that you lol?

55% is at a par with the best in the PL and over a 6 year stint is impressive including the final "worst season ever", to think we have witnessed 2 worse that that.

Someone said the only thing that mattered was the two tropheys he gave us, that is bull. Rafa made the team competitive. We were tipped to win the league the final season. We watched 4-0 against Real, winning in the new camp, two CL finals, 3 semis, 4 quater finals, 105 goals in a season. People say counter attack football but they have short memories, kick the ball to owen on a counter was houlliers game. We created more chances and played possesion football under Rafa. The owners battle killed the club that season and Rafa was the victim.

Isn't Aquilani exactly the kind of flair player we needed? He brought him in but first Hodgson and then Dalglish never gave him a chance.

He's also publicly stated that he wanted to sign jovetic to play between the lines.

What about Luis Garcia? There's another between the lines flair player.

In his last season Gerrard and Aquilani were beginning to link up really well.

Let's not forget he was fighting a board room battle from 2007 onwards. The owners tried to sack him in 2008.

He made some strange decisions, but no where near as bad as the decisions we've seen from Hodgson and Dalglish.

Alonso is a typically used example. Let's not forget that that sale generated £20 million profit. It's not great but the reality is Liverpool needed to sell to buy sometimes.

We lost a good player but we made a fair amount of money. Given more time Aquilani could've been a good replacement if not quite as good.

You say Rafa never signalled a sub before 58 minutes but in the 2005 CL final he subbed in Hamaan at half time. Generally you're right, but in one of the few games where we we getting really smashed he broke his rule.

And while the Liverpool way has a lot of good things about it, it's a big part of the problem, too. Rafa modernised us a club and took some of the good things about the Liverpool way with him.

He wasn't perfect by any means but he was nowhere near as bad a manager as you say he was. His record says it all.

During Rafa's time there were high points, but we have to move on and not take a chance on going backwards after all he did not win the league with us and we ended out of the top four, I actually wanted Rikjaard until Kenny came back but the problem is I thought Kenny would recognise the quality we needed as he was undoubtedly a great player, I never dreamed he would buy some of the folk he did and waiting for the right signings was painful, do we take a chance on Rafa who too many players have complained about his style of management, I really feel folk like SG would be far from pleased, please show imagination folks and bring up someone who will attract players of skill and composure that is fit to where the Red shirt.

Nobody is denying that Ryan Babel has talent - you seem to obviously like him - hence the reason Rafa actually bought him in the first place. Unfortunately, it became very apparent, very quickly that he clearly lacked the brain (and therefore tactical discipline) to accompany that talent. In fact, he was pretty much brain-dead! And where was Ryan Babel playing for Ajax before we signed him? Oh that's right...Left Wing!! As for this comparison to Voronin; Voronin made less than 30 appearances for Liverpool in 3 years at the club, and was loaned out during that period - so I've no idea why you continue to make reference towards this in comparing the two??? And as for Dirk, he was initially brought in as a striker, struggled to score goals up there before Benitez began using him on the right of a 3 behind the front man. A tactical switch that benefited both player and the team...and a switch that prompted the Dutch national team to use Kuyt in exactly the same position for Holland. Its called tactical nous. When a Manager can see something in a player that others are unable to grasp until he makes such a change and everyone can instantly see the reasoning & benefits. For another example of such acumen, see 'Lucas'. Finally, cannot begin to understand how Rafa can continue being blamed for us failing to win the league in 2009. It was the Manager that had us punching WELL ABOVE our weight and brought us to within touching distance of bringing the title home. Ridiculous!!

Bang on xabithelad..... I've said it time and time again.... We were punching well above or weight THANKS to rafa! He had to make silk purses from sows ears continually yet our results speak volumes. The final year wasn't him being crap..... It was owners, no money and eventually being caught out by playing to or ACTUAL level. He's good but not God and without funds he was always gonna get caught eventually! Rafa with backing wouldn't have u where we are now thats for sure! Good posts though fellow lfc fan and keep seein it as it is!

Very true Davewestaus! I made that point earlier. First to score 100 goals yet defensive side lmao. People are so blind and quick to believe what others say (sheep). After reading this page several times today it seems only yourself, me and xabithelad speak any sense! Fickle fickle fans annoy me! Keep the faith brother!

Ah a JK article always worth a good laugh,shame it lacks any real depth to it, I'd rather read a Tomkins article at least, I know I'll get unbiased statistics, backed up with facts. perhaps you should go into muppet of the week,

What an utterly short sighted view 'he never showed the warmth that might bring out the best in a player' what a load of tosh, Gerrard had his best form under Rafa, Torres scored more in his debut season than any other foreigner, Masch was class, Alonso was class, Carra was made into a centre back and had his best years under Rafa. I admit he made mistakes and did things we didnt agree with but i would give my left arm to experience those semi final champs league atmospheres again. They were incredible and for all his mistakes he made us ranked number one in europe, not a bad statistic to have under your belt.

Jamie K, you say the stats show that is was his time to leave. I guess he should have also left Valencia after finishing 5th in his second season there. All the stats show is one under par season. What did you expect with the circus around anfield at the time? Everyone concentrating on football? Put up fergies first 6 year stats at man u, those stats show he wasn't good enough.

Stats are good to have however they dont show the whole story. The truth is 4 million net spend over 6 years and getting 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th isn't bad. Winning the CL with traore, baros and biscan isn't bad. Getting to another CL final isn't bad. Also at the time having to compete with teams not just outspending us but throwing insane amounts of cash at thier clubs isn't bad.

Rafa can win the PL, he won 2 la ligas, he got close once and can get closer however we cant kid ourselves either. We havent won the league for over 20 years, its not just a blip anymore.